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[WHOneedsSOX]

What's interesting is that I think a possession-monster team can still win in today's NHL. The problem the Kings have had the last few seasons is that they forgot what to do with the puck when they had it. I hope management still recognizes the value in being a possession team, but finds a coach that figures out how to speed up the quicksand the Kings have fallen to.

Of course they can. Hawks were top 5 in 2015. Penguins were top 5 last season. It's the area of where the shots are coming from that's the difference. I'd bet the Kings are bottom 5 in the NHL in average distance per shot.

 

[Quattro]

Are you just going to whine about Blake in this whole thread?

apparently

Pretty amazed at the venom being hurled at Luc here. What exactly has he done that any of you actually have any real knowledge of that would justify the hatred he is getting? The portrait of Luc as some kind of Machiavellian evil genius is downright hilarious.

Why do people keep saying Blake has no experience? He's been an assistant GM for 4 years, including a Cup win, is the GM of our successful AHL affiliate, he worked in the league office for several years and has been involved in the management of Team Canada in the World Championships and World Cup. Other than being the actual GM of another NHL franchise, I'd say he has a fair amount of experience.

I'm not jumping for joy over the hire but I'm willing to give them a chance. The coaching hire is the first big test.

 

[Piston]

As fans, we want to be proud of our organization, for the people who have worked their butts off and have taken us to the promised land to be treated fairly. We can argue all day whether DS and DL needed to be replaced. What bothers me is he classless way they were let go. Allow DS to 'retire'. Push Dean upstairs or at least allow him to resign with dignity. 'Releasing them from their duties' is not how you behave towards the two guys who brought two cups. Maybe DL was guilty of being too loyal. But, when was Rob Blake ever loyal? These moves really bother me.

 

[Mattias]

CLICK ME DAMMIT YOU CAN SEE HOW WE REACTED

I clicked and had some good memories there

Not a big fan of Sutter. Him and his brother Brent are both overrated as coaches. Plus he's brutal to look at and listen to in interviews haha.

Very disappointed, but not surprised.

Who is going to be the Kings next GM? Lombardi just put his job on the back of Sutter.

Great.. another coach who doesn't have much success in the history of scoring goals. I agree that the team needs a fire lit under its butt in the short term but it needs somebody creative to think outside the box and the get most out of the players the team has and I doubt Darryl Sutter is him. Looks like DL is as stubborn as Terry Murray.

I could go on (and there's some that approved of the hiring!) but I feel you get my drift. We're a manic, bipolar lot who are always insatiable.

What's that? Blake has been being groomed four years with the Monarchs and made some difficult decisions and got the Calder for it?

Not good enough for us.

Luc has been working with the organization for years behind the scenes and obviously learned what it takes according to corporate AEG?

He must be a shill who just gets by on his Canadian looks.

At the end of the day, we changed direction and left a ship that was sinking fast. While the replacements are new, does it really warrant this knee jerk reaction? I don't think so.

 

[Herby]

Surprised so many wanted Sutter gone but Dean to stay.

The management has been a bigger issue than the coaching the last three years (although both have been bad). The Kings were not a good team until Sutter arrived, in fact without Sutter in 2012 the Kings probably miss the playoffs and Dean is fired and who knows what happens.

I think both had to go, just a little surprised that Dean had such a longer leash with many, and people wanted to give him the power to hire a new coach.

 

[HookKing]

For all we know Blake could be the next Scotty Bowman, or not. Let's see what he does. Clearly Sutter/Lombardi lost the team and it was time to go.

 

[ru4reals]

I haven't read through all 11 pages but I'm sure a few have mentioned it, but I'm one of a few that is surprised Dean was let go. Sutter maybe but Dean wow. I think Injuries and guys who sucked this season played a bigger part to our demise. Rob Blake really. Futa would have been a better fit as GM then freakin Blake. Now Futa will be leaving watch. Welcome to another 45 years of meandering in the black whole. I feel like puking.

 

[fsanford]

As fans, we want to be proud of our organization, for the people who have worked their butts off and have taken us to the promised land to be treated fairly. We can argue all day whether DS and DL needed to be replaced. What bothers me is he classless way they were let go. Allow DS to 'retire'. Push Dean upstairs or at least allow him to resign with dignity. 'Releasing them from their duties' is not how you behave towards the two guys who brought two cups. Maybe DL was guilty of being too loyal. But, when was Rob Blake ever loyal? These moves really bother me.

You think DS would retire? He would say F you fire me. So they did..

Sports is a business I would rather have a guy not be blindly loyal.
Lombardi's best move was to ship out Jack Johnson, a guy who was as loyal to the Kings as any player we have ever had. And yet, Lombardi shipped him out, he made the move with his head and not his heart. Great deal.

If we had that Lombardi the last 3 years, he would still have a job today.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I really disagree with all this "new NHL is speed and skill" rhetoric. This is not some groundbreaking evolution league wide that left the Kings in the dust. Playing heavy and hard is not all of a sudden impossible. The Kings simply don't have the horses to play heavy and hard like they used to. The Kings style didn't fail them. Their personnel did.

Do you really think the 2012 Kings fail to make the playoffs this year? That was a heavy, hard team.

Hockey systems are all known sciences at this point. Other teams prioritizing one system does not negate all the others. It's just a matter of how WELL any team can execute a system.

If a team is really ****ing good at hard and heavy, they're still going to win games in a skill/speed league. The problem is that the Kings stopped being really ****ing good at hard and heavy a long time ago. The league didn't "pass them up." They just got worse, regardless of system of choice.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Surprised so many wanted Sutter gone but Dean to stay.

The management has been a bigger issue than the coaching the last three years (although both have been bad). The Kings were not a good team until Sutter arrived, in fact without Sutter in 2012 the Kings probably miss the playoffs and Dean is fired and who knows what happens.

I think both had to go, just a little surprised that Dean had such a longer leash with many, and people wanted to give him the power to hire a new coach.

Because it wasn't Sutter alone who turned around 2012. It was the Carter trade, too.

 

[Keith Sweaty]

Ray Ferraro‏Verified account @rayferrarotsn · 1h1 hour ago

Everything has a place-it's time to change in LA. Blake is sharp, terrific leader..will be methodical, even keeled. Luc is face of franchise

Well there you have it, Ray Ferraro puts his stamp of approval. How is it (Pierre Le Brun said Blake will be 'great') the Canadian Media know Blake's resume that well...

Ray knows s*** about d***.

Blake is NOT a leader... he's proven that twice. Terrible, terrible choice.

Herby's comments have been entertaining tho...

 

[ru4reals]

I really disagree with all this "new NHL is speed and skill" rhetoric. This is not some groundbreaking evolution league wide that left the Kings in the dust. Playing heavy and hard is not all of a sudden impossible. The Kings simply don't have the horses to play heavy and hard like they used to. The Kings style didn't fail them. Their personnel did.

Do you really think the 2012 Kings fail to make the playoffs this year? That was a heavy, hard team.

Hockey systems are all known sciences at this point. Other teams prioritizing one system does not negate all the others. It's just a matter of how WELL any team can execute a system.

If a team is really ****ing good at hard and heavy, they're still going to win games in a skill/speed league. The problem is that the Kings stopped being really ****ing good at hard and heavy a long time ago. The league didn't "pass them up." They just got worse, regardless of system of choice.

Yuuuup straight up! Clifford, Andreoff, and pretty much half the team are not skilled enough and plus our top guys like Kopitar and Gaborik plus quicks Injuries pretty much killed our season. It is what it is.

 

[Bandit]

Can somebody give me a list of all the ex-star-player-turned-GMs that have led their franchise to a Stanley Cup in the last 30 years? Throw me a bone... anyone?

 

[Herby]

Ray knows s*** about d***.

Blake is NOT a leader... he's proven that twice. Terrible, terrible choice.

Herby's comments have been entertaining tho...

Oh look, you're back.

How about replying to the comments rather than the usual crap.

What exactly do you disagree with?

I gave both guys credit, but it's time to move on, just like it was time for Pittsburgh and Boston to move on from their cup winning GM's, and both franchises ended up for the better.

 

[LombardiTool]

Guess I need a name change? Loved Lombardi but it was time to go. He will forever be in my heart for all he did for the organization.

 

[Herby]

Can somebody give me a list of all the ex-star-player-turned-GMs that have led their franchise to a Stanley Cup in the last 30 years? Throw me a bone... anyone?

Serge Savard.

Some close calls Doug Wilson, Bobby Clarke

 

[ru4reals]

Can somebody give me a list of all the ex-star-player-turned-GMs that have led their franchise to a Stanley Cup in the last 30 years? Throw me a bone... anyone?

Maybe Yzerman? Led Tampa to the cup finals. Ummmm Clarke led Flyers to the finals but lost. But yeah I'm thinking not too much.

 

[Herby]

Yuuuup straight up! Clifford, Andreoff, and pretty much half the team are not skilled enough and plus our top guys like Kopitar and Gaborik plus quicks Injuries pretty much killed our season. It is what it is.

Clifford and Andreoff are useless, but I think it's a bit fair to put any blame on them with the way Kopitar, Toffoli, Gaborik, Muzzin and Martinez played this season.

I do expect we will see much less of guys like Clifford, Andreoff and Nolan though. You really only need one of them, Sutter would often play all three.

 

[Bandit]

Serge Savard.

Some close calls Doug Wilson, Bobby Clarke

So... one. 25 years ago. Sweet.

 

[Fishhead]

I'm very uncomfortable with this...

 

[HookKing]

One thing's for sure, next year will feel weird. No Bob, Dean or Darryl.

 

[kingsfan28]

Of course they can. Hawks were top 5 in 2015. Penguins were top 5 last season. It's the area of where the shots are coming from that's the difference. I'd bet the Kings are bottom 5 in the NHL in average distance per shot.

This is one of the reasons for lack of scoring. Doughty gave an interview saying how he wished the team would shoot closer to the circles and not from the blueline so much. Teams figured this out pretty quickly and would line 2 or 3 guys in the lane to prevent anything from getting though. And it worked.

 

[ru4reals]

Clifford and Andreoff are useless, but I think it's a bit fair to put any blame on them with the way Kopitar, Toffoli, Gaborik, Muzzin and Martinez played this season.

I do expect we will see much less of guys like Clifford, Andreoff and Nolan though. You really only need one of them, Sutter would often play all three.

So true and so sad. But at the same time we didn't have anyone anywhere we can at least try to put in the lineup instead of these three. One thing is for sure we need to rebuild that farm system again.

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

This is one of the reasons for lack of scoring. Doughty gave an interview saying how he wished the team would shoot closer to the circles and not from the blueline so much. Teams figured this out pretty quickly and would line 2 or 3 guys in the lane to prevent anything from getting though. And it worked.

I remember that interview. Doughty sounding absolutely nothing like a leader in that interview. Called practice boring. That must inspire the young players to work hard.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Yuuuup straight up! Clifford, Andreoff, and pretty much half the team are not skilled enough and plus our top guys like Kopitar and Gaborik plus quicks Injuries pretty much killed our season. It is what it is.

oh yeah blame the guy that plays less then 10 mins a game The 4th line is not the kings problems Its the top 9 not scoring goals